Organic gases undergoing conversion to form secondary organic aerosol (SOA) during atmospheric aging are largely unidentified, particularly in regions influenced by anthropogenic emissions. SOA dominates the atmospheric organic aerosol burden and this knowledge gap contributes to uncertainties in aerosol effects on climate and human health. Here we characterize primary and aged emissions from residential wood combustion using high resolution mass spectrometry to identify SOA precursors. We determine that SOA precursors traditionally included in models account for only ~3–27% of the observed SOA, whereas for the first time we explain ~84–116% of the SOA by inclusion of non-traditional precursors. Although hundreds of organic gases are emitted during wood combustion, SOA is dominated by the aging products of only 22 compounds. In some cases, oxidation products of phenol, naphthalene and benzene alone comprise up to ~80% of the observed SOA. Identifying the main precursors responsible for SOA formation enables improved model parameterizations and SOA mitigation strategies in regions impacted by residential wood combustion, more productive targets for ambient monitoring programs and future laboratories studies, and links between direct emissions and SOA impacts on climate and health in these regions.
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